MEXICO CITY, June 9 -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday met with three of the country's soccer selections and wished them best of luck ahead of their upcoming World Cup competitions.
The teams include Mexico's women's team that will participate in the upcoming 2011 World Cup which starts in Germany on June 26, the national men's team for the Under-17 World Cup which starts in Mexico on June 18, and the men's beach soccer team that will start playing in Italy on Sept. 1.
"See yourselves as champions, never give up to fight for being the best, never be defeated by the adversities, have confidence in yourselves and like this you can change a lot of things," Calderon told them during a short ceremony where he was accompanied by Sports Minister Bernardo de la Garza.
Mexico is one of the only tree countries in the world besides Brazil and New Zealand which has succeeded in seeing its national soccer team qualified in all categories of the World Cup organized by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), which also includes a World Cup for the Under-20 teams.
The Mexican Under-17 team will compete in the World Cup in Mexico in Group A together with DPR Korea, Congo and the Netherlands, where Mexico will seek to repeat the triumph of the Under-17 team that won the title in Peru in 2005.